In some "blue sky" thinking, I was wondering if you could get a bareshaft to spin via some modification to the nock. If the throat of the nock had a twist of, say 60 degrees, from the base of the throat to the ears, then when the arrow disconnects from the string it would be forced to rotate. I couldn't come to any conclusion about whether it would do so at any reasonable speed, or if it would be more likely to just break the nock, or if any rotation would quickly dissipate, so figured someone else must've thought about it before online.
Surely enough, Easton has a similar patent from 1992 covering a range of "offset" or "bent" nocks here US5186470A - Offset arrow nock - Google Patents . Their explanation is that it "permits the use of a lighter weight less stiff arrow by countering and diminishing the normal bending of the arrowshaft as it is propelled forward by acceleration of the bowstring at the moment of release."
Now, I've never seen or heard of anything like this for sale, so if they ever developed them into a product it likely have flopped quickly and quietly. At the same time, patents cost money so they must have thought there was some value in protecting it.
So,
- has anyone ever seen or heard of any nocks like these that were offset or purposefully bent or twisted or any other non-standard geometry, and if so, how did they work and why aren't they in use? I think ACEs were in common use then but the X10 had yet to be released.
- any thoughts as to how a forced rotation as the arrow leaves the string would affect flight (or not)?
I have a few spare nocks that I could carefully warm up and twist the ears on, and then test at short range from 20lb limbs (and full PPE in case it explodes).
Surely enough, Easton has a similar patent from 1992 covering a range of "offset" or "bent" nocks here US5186470A - Offset arrow nock - Google Patents . Their explanation is that it "permits the use of a lighter weight less stiff arrow by countering and diminishing the normal bending of the arrowshaft as it is propelled forward by acceleration of the bowstring at the moment of release."
Now, I've never seen or heard of anything like this for sale, so if they ever developed them into a product it likely have flopped quickly and quietly. At the same time, patents cost money so they must have thought there was some value in protecting it.
So,
- has anyone ever seen or heard of any nocks like these that were offset or purposefully bent or twisted or any other non-standard geometry, and if so, how did they work and why aren't they in use? I think ACEs were in common use then but the X10 had yet to be released.
- any thoughts as to how a forced rotation as the arrow leaves the string would affect flight (or not)?
I have a few spare nocks that I could carefully warm up and twist the ears on, and then test at short range from 20lb limbs (and full PPE in case it explodes).